Formula E: Formula 1 for electric cars

Enel will be once again alongside the 20 pilots and ten competing teams in the next stage of the Formula E 2016-2017 season, which starts on February 18th in Buenos Aires. To ensure that the event is absolutely carbon neutral, we will install intelligent digital technologies to monitor consumption and to allow cars, pits and circuits to be supplied exclusively with renewable energy.

“We designed a fully digital next-generation micro-network for Formula E, that supplies clean energy to each Grand Prix”

The facilities include smart meters, solar panels to power the event, an energy storage system and charging stations for the team fleets, as well as public buses and transportation infrastructure for the assembly of the circuit. Everything is monitored by Energy Management System (EMS), the network management software used by Enel since Expo 2015.

A fully energised team

Along with the competing teams, Enel also relies on a fully energised team to support Formula E. Comprised of professionals with diverse experiences, our team is responsible for making the energy potential of each race a reality.

“An Enel team of 30 people has been working since last year on smart solutions for Formula E. Five groups have perfomed in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom”

Competing for innovation with intelligent technologies

The sustainable version of Formula 1, launched in 2012 by FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile), owes nothing to the more famous category that has been, for over half century, the challenging backdrop for legendary teams such as Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes.

Car companies such as Audi, Jaguar and Renault, drivers like Sebastien Buemi and Nick Heidfeld, also known to Formula 1 fans, as well as children of drivers such as Nico Prost and Nelson Piquet Jr are taking part in the competition. It is not a coincidence that Mercedes has recently decided to participate in Formula E, in the 2018-2019 season. In ePrix, intelligent technologies and innovation race to the future at 200 km/h, anticipating and testing the best solutions for tomorrow's electric mobility.

Enel's "testing arena"

Like the province of Maranello for Ferrari, or the city of Woking for McLaren, Enel also has its own “testing arena”, a place where we design and evaluate the solutions created for the sustainable championship. The system we created especially for Formula E was developed in the CESI installations, in Milan, one of Enel’s historical laboratories.

The micro-network for Formula E was created in the same place where Enel developed the electronic meter currently used in millions of homes around the world, from Europe to Latin America. It is here that, in the early 2000's, Enel's smart metering project was imagined. We are currently testing other intelligent solutions for ePrix by developing a kind of innovation incubator designed to change the reality of our cities and global urban mobility.